One thing I'm re-learning as I play with my toddler grandson is how much fun balloons can be. Now, I don't recommend letting them loose outside as they can pose a health risk to birds and other wildlife but indoors, let's have some fun. Here's one I think you and the family will enjoy. Could you sink a balloon into a laundry basket using a wooden spoon? What if your spoon were replaced by a paper plate? Welcome to the Very Serious Balloon Championships, where the equipment is questionable and the sports haven’t quite been invented yet. Start with Spoon Basketball. After that, your family gets to invent the next event. Gather Your Gear: Recruit the Equipment You’ll need one inflated balloon, a basket or open box, and a few lightweight, blunt household objects: wooden spoons, paper plates, cardboard, or an empty plastic container. Clear a small playing space. Ask an adult if you need help blowing up the balloons. Be sure to throw any broken bits in the trash. Steps 1. Open with Spoon Basketball. Place the basket nearby and choose a starting spot. Hold the balloon in your free hand, then release it and use a wooden spoon to send it toward the basket. Tap, guide, or balance it on the spoon. After releasing it, use only the spoon to move it. You can play seated. 2. Give everyone a turn. Players choose how close to start. If the balloon lands outside the basket, pick it up and try again. A balloon that bounces off the rim, lands behind the player, or refuses to leave the spoon may deserve an instant replay. 3. Change the equipment. Try the same shot with a paper plate or piece of cardboard. Does a different tool suggest a completely different technique? Players can demonstrate discoveries or keep experimenting. 4. Let someone change the event. Keep the balloon and change one part of the sport. Turn the basket sideways. Make the balloon land on a cushion. Use two paper plates to pass it between players before taking the shot. Try the new event before deciding its rules. 5. Hold the championships your way. Repeat the favorite event, challenge an adult, or invent another. Players can keep scores if they want, award ridiculous titles, or simply demand another go. Commentary and grand entrances are available to anyone who enjoys them.

Where I live, the schools are moving into Fall break this week which means families are looking for something to do. I present to you, “One Ridiculous Moment.” You’re a robot. You’ve just discovered socks, and you’re fairly sure one of them is dangerous. Do you investigate, sound the alarm, or attempt to make friends with it? You have one minute to find out. Nobody has written your lines or decided what happens next. Pick something ridiculous to become and give it a problem. Then see what you do. Gather Your Gear A timer and whatever is already nearby. A sock, cushion, or spoon might become part of the action, but imaginary props work too. Play on your own, alongside someone doing their own version, or with an audience if you want one. You can move around, stay seated, use your hands, or give the part to a toy. Steps 1. Choose who or what you’ll become. A suspicious robot? A very important pigeon? A superhero whose power is spectacularly unhelpful? Choose something you want to try. 2. Give yourself something to deal with. Your pigeon needs to claim the best chair. Your superhero must open an imaginary jar. Your robot has found that alarming sock. Keep it simple enough to start playing immediately. 3. Start your minute. Become your character and respond. Move, speak, make sounds, or act silently. You don’t have to know how the minute will end. 4. Follow what happens. Your character might discover a new problem, change its mind, or repeat one wonderfully ridiculous action. If an unexpected idea arrives, use it. 5. Decide whether to go again. Keep your favorite part, try another character, or repeat the same minute differently. There are no points to count. You decide when you’ve had enough. Twist: Same Character, New Rule Keep your character and situation, but change one rule for the next minute. Your robot now moves in slow motion. Your important pigeon has to remain perfectly quiet. Your superhero’s imaginary jar keeps getting heavier. Choose the rule yourself or invite someone to suggest one. Try it and discover what it changes.

This week, over in the Crust & Crumb Academy @Sandy Chong and I are experimenting with homemade pita pockets, let me know if you'd like the recipe. Here in the community though, we're wrapping up sweet science week with one of my favorite treats - brownies. For the full activity, complete with twists and variations by age check out #The Great Brownie Experiment the short version is provided below. What's your favorite sweet treat? Brownies can be thin or thick, chewy or cakey, crisp at the edges or soft in the center. Small changes in how you prepare or bake them can create surprisingly different results. If you bake, don't forget to share your results with us. Gather Your Gear: Use your favorite brownie recipe or a boxed brownie mix. You'll also need: - Ingredients required by your recipe - Mixing bowl - Spoon, whisk, or spatula - Measuring cups and spoons - Two small baking pans, or one pan divided with folded aluminum foil - Parchment paper or cooking spray - Oven mitts - Timer - Knife and cutting board - My Science Notebook (optional) Optional additions - Cooled caramel - Mini marshmallows - Sugar crystals - Chocolate chips Be sure to wash your hands thoroughly before handling food. Adult help is required when using the oven and handling hot pans. Steps: 1. Read the recipe together before beginning. 2. Choose one brownie question to investigate. Examples: - Thin brownies or thick brownies? - Warm brownies or completely cooled brownies? - Plain brownies or marshmallow brownies? - Plain brownies or caramel brownies? - Shorter baking time or longer baking time? 3. Predict what you think will happen. 4. Prepare the brownie batter according to the recipe. 5. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans or pan sections. 6. Change only one variable while keeping everything else the same. 7. Bake with adult supervision. If one section is thinner, begin checking it a little earlier. 8. Allow the brownies to cool enough to handle safely. 9. Compare:

I’ve found a lot of joy, peace and inner truth as well as a wealth of creative direction for my journey through approaching inner growth with a sense of wonder and possibility. I am learning now that when we remember how life felt through our childlike eyes, we invite enchantment into our lives in ways that are nothing short of magical. Would love to host a talk or workshop on this! This is my first post in the group, but I am Kenney. An artist, writer, healer, and am discovering how having friendship with yourself and your world repairs trauma across life times and generations. I am also on instagram as www.instagram.com/ripglosss, I make art too!

Have you ever heard of a Rube Goldberg machine? No, well, let me tell you a bit about it and then you can see how today's last build activity starts to make sense. Take a look at the video before you attempt today's activity. Come back with your questions and also your marvelous creations. Can you build an incredibly complicated machine to do something ridiculously simple? Ring a bell. Knock over a cup. Drop a ball into a bowl. Deliver a note. Pick the ending first. Then invent the most wonderfully unnecessary way you can think of to make it happen. Gather Your Gear: Hunt for Things That DO Something Look around for things that roll, tip, slide, spin, bounce, knock, ring, open, close or make something else move. A ball might roll down a book. A toy car might bump a block. A spoon might make a fantastic CLANG. Don't worry about collecting the "right" materials. Hunt for things that make somebody say, "Ooh, what could we do with this?" Steps 1. Choose your ridiculously simple ending. What should happen at the very end? Keep it simple enough that everyone will know when the machine has done its job. 2. Work backward. What could make that final thing happen? And what could make that happen? Start connecting ideas. 3. Build the route. Make ramps, line things up, add things that roll or fall, use string, recruit a person as part of the machine or invent something nobody expected. Two actions can be enough. Twenty are fine too. 4. Everybody ready? SET IT OFF! Start the machine and see what happens. Cheer when it works. Laugh when it spectacularly doesn't. 5. Go again if you want. Fix the part that stopped. Add another ridiculous step. Shorten the whole thing. Make it stranger. Or declare the glorious disaster your masterpiece and move on. Twist: The Completely Unnecessary Step Your machine can reach its ending. Excellent. Now add one step it absolutely does not need. Send a toy car on a pointless detour. Knock over a stuffed animal. Make someone wave a towel before releasing the next object. Send a ball through a tube just to bring it back where it started.